U.T. Dallas’ Homecoming Will Feature
Bands And Ring of Honor But No Football

Dance, Casino Games, Parade Also Planned For
Oct. 24-27 Celebration

RICHARDSON, Texas (Oct. 8, 2001) - What does a school do for homecoming
if it doesn’t have a football team? In the case of The University of
Texas at Dallas, which does have a national championship chess team and
a nationally ranked debate team, it tries a little harder. It hosts four
days of events that range from a campus parade and various intramural
competitions to a “battle of the bands,” a black-tie dance and
casino games.

And then it caps off the festivities with the unveiling of the
first-ever official UTD ring.

Although the university was founded in 1969, more than three decades
ago, and has since conferred more than 40,000 degrees from the bachelor
to the doctoral level, it never has had an official school ring. But
this year a group of students and several alumni got together with some
craftsmen from a ring manufacturer and designed what will become “The
UTD Ring.” The unveiling will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26,
outside the Green Center on campus.

Meanwhile, the UTD Alumni Association plans to establish a Ring Award
Endowment - to be used to provide permanent funds to enable the
university to award rings to several outstanding students each year.
Those who contribute to the endowment prior to the unveiling will be
given an opportunity to select their ring by number. The alumnus making
the largest contribution to the ring endowment will have an opportunity
to select the very first official UTD ring ever produced - numbered
000001. For more information about the Ring Award Endowment, please
contact the Alumni Association at alumni@utdallas.edu.

Over the years, some UTD graduates
have purchased rings of various designs to represent their connection
to, and history with, the university. For the next year, they will be
able to trade those rings in for one of the newer, official models at no
cost, if they wish.

“As UTD grows in both size and prestige, we think it is time for
our graduates to have their own unique official university ring, if they
wish,” said Carlos Peña, vice president for advancement at the
university. “I think this will be great for morale and will identify
the wearer of the rings as graduates not only of one of the fastest
growing public universities in the country but also of one of the public
universities with the highest academic standards.”

The UTD Homecoming will run from Oct. 24 to 27, with most of the
major events scheduled for that Friday night and Saturday. And alumni
reception will be held Friday night, immediately following the unveiling
of the UTD ring, and a battle of the bands will kick off later that
night, at 10 p.m.

On Saturday morning, Oct. 27, a parade will be held on
campus, followed that evening with the dance and casino games. Winners
of the casino games will be able to use their chips to bid on various
prizes.

About UTD

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of
Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major
multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor,
enrolls more than 7,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students. The
school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas
state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers
a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree
programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the
university’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.